In The Loop's John P. Lopez, Reginald Adetula and Figgy Fig react to the Texans' embarrassing Sunday Night Football loss to the Detroit Lions.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00three point loss against one of if not the best teams in the NFL. If I just told you
00:05that, um, especially if I just told myself that last week when we were leading up to
00:09this game, I think we would have all felt a one type way for some reason does not feel
00:15like that's the way that we are feeling after this. Yeah, no, look, if you'd have told me,
00:18Hey, the Texans are going to lose, but it's going to be 26, 23. I'd have said, well, all
00:23you know, that sounds like there was some progress made, right? Um, there was briefly
00:30some progress made. I think where we need to start though, with that in mind, because
00:36if you'd have just told me the score, as I mentioned, I think we all, I think everybody
00:40listening, everybody watching everybody who hears our voices would have said, okay, that,
00:45that's a, that's a team that's starting to go in the right direction. They're not going
00:50in the right direction. That, that, that, that, that's where I am right now, because
00:54for all the things that, uh, the shortcomings that we've talked about this year, okay. The
00:59offensive line problems, the, well, you know, it just go down the list in your, in your
01:02mind's eye, you know, just picture all the problems, the falling, just short of expectations
01:09that we've talked about. The Texans have never been embarrassed that, that, that, that I'd
01:15team, I should say, has never been embarrassed. They are embarrassed today. Texans fans are
01:21embarrassed today. You know, you wouldn't say the Vikings game was, well, I got to say
01:24hell last week. No, but I'm talking about like the Viking games, the Vikings game, you
01:29got flat out run, you know, like it wasn't, it wasn't a matter of, uh, the jets was just
01:36like, you were awful and the offensive line stunk, but I'm talking about like, just in
01:41terms of winning a game, 23 to seven at the half, and then losing that game.
01:48When you got five interceptions, that's humiliating. Like that, like it's, it's one thing to get
01:55run off the field. I mean, that's going to happen. You don't hope it does, but it does.
01:59It's one thing to just have, uh, a performance that is just awful. And maybe there's some
02:05levels of embarrassment there. You got five interceptions. You lost three. Uh, yeah. You
02:10lost three in the turnover against the team, mind you, that came into this game as the
02:14single best, uh, turnover differential team in the league, in the Detroit line, you could
02:20not have started the game any better than you did. You got the best possible, uh, you
02:25know, performance for the most part, especially in the first half from your defense, you got
02:30contributions from role players, stepping up. We'll get to John Mitchie in this passing
02:36thought. I have a comparison, uh, uh, in my life, uh, regarding John mentioned that
02:42I think you'll agree with role player stepping up, could not have looked more like 2023 CJ
02:49Stroud for the first half. And then you lose that game. Yeah. And it's, it's kind of incredible
02:55because I know that you were saying that, look, they have not progressed or did not
03:00feel like they progress in this game. There's definitely some places where you go, there
03:03was progress there. The problem is it's not all the way around. And one of the big issues
03:08that popped up again was the second, second half, uh, stuttering that happens with these
03:13Texans where in the last four games, they scored all of, what is it? 15 points. None
03:18of those touchdowns. Uh, and the second half, uh, at one point during this game, I turned
03:22to a Sean, um, Pendergast and I go, Hey, what's the tally right on touchdowns. And he gives
03:28me that big old zero because this is, this has been an issue. It's, it's the same kind
03:34of issues that continue to pop up with this Texans team. And it does make you start questioning,
03:40right? Like this is supposed to be kind of a, a stress test. This was supposed to be
03:44a little bit of a, uh, measuring stick contest against a very good team in the lions. And
03:49in some ways you showed up and showed that you have the capabilities that we all anticipated
03:53for the entirety of this season, right? That you, that you can go and you can play with
03:57them. You can, you can be a turnover defense, right? You can do all of these things. But
04:01in other ways, you showed that some of the faults are still going to show up, right?
04:06Some of the things that we were talking about early on in the season with this Texas team,
04:09I'll just find a way to win. You're doing that against some teams that I don't know.
04:13Don't feel that great about. These are the instances where the lions, I was watching,
04:17uh, I was watching Dan Campbell in the locker room after there, after the win. And he was
04:23saying, Hey, this is what to this win. And in the, in the instances where against teams
04:29that you would have to play in the playoffs against these caliber teams, the Texas have
04:33not found ways to win. In fact, in, on this occasion, they found a way to lose. Yeah.
04:37And you know, you talk about the culture that D'Amico Brian's brought, he's embarrassed
04:41about it tonight, today, but he's gotta be embarrassed. Cause that's not, that wasn't
04:45a winning culture in the second half, you know, who had a winning culture, the Detroit
04:48lions that, you know, they were down 23 to seven. Uh, and, uh, and Dan Campbell comes
04:53out during his interview. Well, during the airing of his interview, when he says, well,
04:58we need some more turnovers, boom, get a turnover. Uh, you know, that was the, and they use this
05:03word a lot, uh, when, when describing the, the lines, you know, the grit that they had,
05:08that was like, you know, you talk about the Vikings game, you come back from the Viking
05:11game Vikings game and you say, all right, that's sounding the alarm.
05:15We have a lot of things to fix and okay. You know, that happens Jets game boy was this
05:21line bad, the worst it's ever been. We got to make some wholesale changes and they did,
05:26you know, putting juice grugs at, at left guard and a Patterson at center. But you come
05:30out of this game when you had every right to, to win that game, there's, but there's
05:36no way you should have lost that game. No way you should have lost that game. And you
05:40spit the bit, especially in the second half. That's just, that's just an embarrassment.
05:44I mean, that, that's just an absolute embarrassment. It was ghosts of Texans past. You know, this
05:49felt like a game that the Texans that we've seen this, uh, a bad, you know, Texans team
05:53or a team that fell short of expectations would do. And, and that's where it just, it's
05:59almost, it's almost drawing board time. I know they've made some things, uh, they've
06:04corrected.
06:05Did some things are, there were a lot of pressures in the second half, man. Uh, you still got,
06:10you know, you still got sacked four times. You still had nine pressures on CJ Stroud.
06:14He was still kind of seeing ghosts, you know, in the second half, this is, this was just
06:19absolute humiliation. Yeah. For lack of a better term, this, does this team have any,
06:26any semblance of a killer instinct? I, I, these are kind of like the nebulous things
06:30that I'm not great at handling at times is the idea of like killer instinct. Cause how
06:34do you quantify that? How do you qualify that per se, but it, it's hard to kind of fight
06:40against somebody who's willing to put that up as a, uh, as an explanation for why the
06:44Texans have seemingly found themselves in this place time and time again, over the course
06:49of this season is when it, when the going gets tough in some of these instances, particularly
06:53as evidenced by the idea that in the second halves, they're not putting up touchdowns,
06:57they're barely putting up points, um, in, in this stretch of games that do you believe
07:02that they have any level of killer instinct or the ability to put teams away? Um, late
07:07in games.
07:08And you, you know, early on when we're talking about the Texans are, you know, six, this
07:12successful in one score games, it makes you feel like maybe not killer instinct, but certainly
07:17an ingredient to be able to win these games. Uh, that, that, that alone has, has changed
07:22right there. And, and, you know, let's, let's, let's talk to the, to the people here, you
07:26know, the, the, the fans and people watching and listening. I mean, I talked about this
07:32might be a tipping point game and maybe it was like, do you feel like this team is different?
07:40Do you feel like this team is one of those teams that, uh, you know, is, is going to
07:46be, you know, at the, at the highest level? I don't know if anybody can say that. No,
07:52I mean, like, especially not as currently constituted. And do you feel like, uh, as,
07:56as the refrain continues to be like, we have to be better that that better is, is not just
08:01doable, but will happen for this team, right? There's still things Niko Collins obviously
08:05does not play in this game. Um, Joe Mixon it's kind of shockingly, but also not shocking
08:13when you consider like the game plan that Detroit came out with and the, the capability
08:17of Detroit to finish, uh, to, you know, exact a game plan, right? Joe Mixon only with 46
08:24yards on 25 attempts, he does come up with that touchdown, right? Which is, which typically
08:30well over half of what we typically anticipate when Joe Mixon is out there, regardless of
08:34what's happening in front of him. Right. Um, without kind of those two mainstays, you were
08:39still able to put up 23 points and you had a lot of opportunities courtesy of the defense.
08:43And yet, and still like, here you are, uh, a loser on a Monday, um, in a situation where
08:49you absolutely should have gotten to win. Yeah. And you mentioned D'Amico Ryan's and
08:52we're going to be hearing from D'Amico, but you know, after the game talking a lot of
08:56the same things, we have to look at everything. We've heard that for what, three weeks now
09:01we got everything's on the table. We got to look at everything. I mean, I, I, okay. Uh,
09:06you know, you absolutely do. But I think the, the proper answer here is we are not what
09:11we thought we were. Yeah. I mean, like they're not, they are not right. Like there's only
09:17so many times that you can have a test in front of you and not have the desirable, you
09:22know, effective, desirable response on the last audit, right? Like eventually you have
09:28to show and prove and here you are, right. Uh, from the eight, three, two Reggie losing
09:33eight yards on one carry did not help, uh, mixing stats at all. I mean, sure, but ultimately
09:39that that's an accumulation, right? You take all of it together in all of this. Uh, so
09:44from the eight, three, two Bobby slow, it can remain on the staff, a strip him of play
09:47calling and let him learn more before he giving him the reins again. I'm not sure that that
09:51shifts what this team is doing. Like this feels like a, a full accounting all the way
09:56across with this team. Like, do you feel like this is what you're seeing? The, the lack
10:00of ability to get something done ultimately, um, is a individual, a failing of an individual
10:08on this team. It feels like this was so much wider. Well, we're going to talk about Bobby
10:12Sloat because he is, uh, uh, definitely a standalone topic and we'll be talking about
10:16that soon. Uh, but, uh, it's not just one thing, uh, defensively, it sure would have
10:24been nice to have Will Anderson, but the defense played pretty well for the majority of this
10:27game. Uh, you got those turnovers, you know, on all that, but you also had some, some,
10:34some plays in which, you know, they were some severe breakdowns, you know, how the hell
10:38you get, uh, Aziz Alshair on the best receiver on the field in a crucial moment. Well, that's
10:44that you're, you're in zone there. That's what happens there, right? You're, you're,
10:47you're in zone and he finds his face. How the heck does that happen? How, why is there
10:51not? I mean, they had been doing a pretty good job. I mean, he was a nowhere man in
10:54the first half. Uh, I'm on Ross ain't Brown was nothing. And then he ends up with six
10:59catches, 60 something yards and a touchdown or whatever it was. Uh, that, that, that's
11:03just, uh, that that's just inexplicable. So that, that speaks to, it's not just Bobby
11:08Sloat. We're going to talk about Bobby Sloat. That's a big problem and we'll talk about
11:12it, but it's not just that Caymmi Fairbairn with a missed field goal, uh, that, that,
11:17you know, he's, they were, you know, he's one of the best kickers from beyond 50 yards.
11:21Sure. It happens. Uh, but you know, we knew that special teams was going to be, was going
11:25to be big in this game, but that's another instance where you see kind of a consistency
11:29from your Texans team of relying on field goals or like that too, just getting to a
11:35place where you're, you're just decided that, or maybe it's not specifically decided that
11:40you're going to kick a field goal, but there's, it's almost resting on the idea that we'll
11:43come meet Caymmi's there. We'll kick a field goal if we don't get there without the aggression
11:47to actually go and pick some of these things up. I know that one of the things that came
11:50up was that, was that decision to kick the field goal there, right? Where one 56, uh,
11:55the opposition has two timeouts, it's fourth and four. And it's like, do you go forth there?
12:01Do you not go forth there? I was looking at some of the, the models, which get a little
12:05wonky towards the end of the game, to be fair, but kicking the field goal was slightly
12:11above going for it in that, in that situation. So like, if you want to lean on the analytics
12:16of it all, did you feel like this team was capable of picking up those four yards? How
12:20did you feel about that decision to kick? Because I know it was a, it was a topic of
12:24conversation up in the box.
12:26I think, you know, it was, it was definitely worthy of going for it. I honestly, if I'm
12:31just being honest here, I didn't really feel too bad about it with Caymmi Fairbairn and
12:36maybe that's the problem. That's what they do. Uh, you know, they, they, they fall back
12:38on that as well. Uh, and that's part of the issue, but, but beyond that, it's, it's also
12:44just resting on the laurels of the first half and being, you know, so careful, uh, offensively,
12:53uh, and the offensive line, the offensive line got better. The offensive line wasn't
12:57good though. Overall. I mean, Joe Mixon was just getting crushed. You can talk about one
13:02eight yard loss all you want. That wasn't it. He wasn't, he was consistent. He was running
13:06into a wall. He was consistently running into it and it was a different wall than other
13:09ones. Other times, right? Other times you run into the wall, he has a space to bounce
13:13out of. Like I think this, that, that portion was a concerted effort by the lions to be
13:17able to know, know the opponent, right? In this instance, it's your Texans, the idea
13:21that, Hey, Joe Mixon creates a lot of yardage, but it's not just off of the, you know, there's
13:25a designed, uh, play of the run.
13:28Now he's going to bounce this out into fine space and then pick up a lot more yardage.
13:31They, they shut a lot of that down in the course of this, just a, a tough game. I know
13:37many people texting and saying they're disappointed. They're embarrassed by this. If there's one
13:41word for you to describe how you felt about this 26, 23 loss by the Texas, what is it?
13:46I said at the start, it's, that's an embarrassed, that's an embarrassing loss. I don't, I mean,
13:51good teams don't do that. Good teams don't blow a 23 to seven lead. If the lions were
13:57up 23 to seven at the half, what's the final score. That's what's embarrassing. Probably
14:0337. Now you're pressing my buttons here, man. I'm answering the question. What do you mean?
14:11Like if the, if the lions figure, if the lions were up 23 to seven, that's a 38 to 17 game.
14:16Yeah. Period. Yeah. The Texans don't have it. They don't, they're not the team we thought
14:23they were going to be period. I thought it was a red flag when they kicked that field
14:30goal at the end and Kiami missed it because it was, it wasn't like it was five seconds
14:36left. It was a lot of time left. Even if he did make that field goal, the lions were hot.
14:43You couldn't stop that offense. So I, to me, I felt like they kind of played a little scared
14:49I don't really believe in kicking a 58 yard field goal with that much time left and giving
14:55it pretty much giving it to him midfield. Yeah. Well, I mean, this is the tough thing
14:59about that. Even if you make that field goal, it's, it's a tough situation. A lot of time,
15:0430 minutes, minutes, minutes, minutes, minutes, minutes, 56. And again, right? Like that lines
15:09team at that point in the fourth quarter, they had made the decision. They knew, Hey,
15:13we can, we can big boy them. We can run this football and they were, they could not stop
15:16him, man. The ball pretty effectively running at Gibbs and Montgomery, man. And that's biggie.
15:23That's the big picture. The, the, the, the, the proverbial 30,000 foot view of this, of
15:27this game and this team, that's it. We can parse out all the little things all we want.
15:32They're not it. Well, not just that, right? Like the 30,000 foot view was that during
15:37the course of this game, it felt like the Texans start fast and slow down. The lions
15:43picked up steam as this game went along. And ultimately that's what showed up in a 26 23
15:47victory for the Detroit lions. And so you're texting six and four, which interestingly
15:52enough through 10 weeks is exactly the same, the same record as you had last year.
15:57It just feels a little different.